John Semmelink

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John Semmelink Alpine skiing
nation CanadaCanada Canada
birthday December 17, 1938
place of birth Shanghai ,  China
job college student
date of death 7th February 1959
Place of death Garmisch-Partenkirchen ,  Germany
Career
discipline Downhill , giant slalom , slalom ,
combination
society Red Birds Ski Club
End of career 7th February 1959
 

Herman Jan "John" Semmelink (born December 17, 1938 in Shanghai , Republic of China , † February 7, 1959 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen , Germany ) was a Canadian ski racer of Dutch origin. He took part in the 1958 World Championships in Bad Gastein and had a fatal accident a year later on the Kandahar downhill run in Garmisch .

biography

Herman Jan Semmelink was born in Shanghai in 1938 to Dutch parents . Due to his father's professional activities, he spent his childhood in the Philippines , Australia and the Netherlands. In 1950 the family settled in Canada , where Jan later joined the Red Birds Ski Club in Montreal . Between September 1956 and March 1957 he was enrolled for a semester at McGill University and took part in several inter-university ski races. He broke off his business studies in favor of training in Europe and took on Canadian citizenship at the end of 1957.

In January 1958, John Semmelink, as he was called from then on, took part in the first Commonwealth Winter Games in St. Moritz and celebrated the greatest successes of his short career. He won the downhill and secured the bronze medal in the giant slalom . The World Championship in Bad Gastein was less successful a few weeks later. At the start he was disqualified in the slalom , in the giant slalom, 36.5 seconds behind world champion Toni Sailer, he was only 53rd. In the final downhill race he was 17.8 seconds behind the again victorious local hero Sailer, which ultimately meant 31st place. Due to his young age, he was subsequently considered a great young hope with regard to the 1960 Olympic Games in Squaw Valley .

death

On February 7, 1959, Semmelink competed for the first time as part of the prestigious Arlberg-Kandahar race in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The route on the Kreuzeck was particularly icy on this day and was described by various participants as extremely challenging. Calls to postpone the race by a few hours in order to soften the hard surface in the sunlight went unheard. When Karl Schranz won , a total of 38 athletes fell. The Arbeiter-Zeitung called the next day the “hardest race of all time”.

The 20-year-old John Semmelink started with number 44 and mastered the upper part of the route without major difficulties. At the end of the Hell section , according to eyewitness accounts, he started the swing too early, whereupon a bond opened and he lost his balance and grip. His head hit the piste twice, broke through a wreath of bushes and fell over a rock into an icy creek bed before disappearing meters deep into the forest. The rescue team found the young athlete alive: “He was still screaming. His helmet was broken like an eggshell. His head was bleeding. His nose was smashed. His jaw was crooked. ”Semmelink was taken to a US military hospital about three kilometers away in a Bundeswehr vehicle , where a team of six doctors were fighting for his life. Three hours after the accident, he was pronounced dead on the operating table and the cause of death given was a triple skull fracture.

Three days later, Semmelink was buried in the presence of his parents and his 17-year-old sister in the Garmisch cemetery . His father justified the place of burial with his son's love for the mountains: "My son loved the mountains above everything and he shall find his last rest here in the mountains".

reception

John Semmelink's fatality was one of the first in international competitive skiing and it was accordingly widely reported in the European and North American media. Together with Toni Mark, who had an accident just four weeks later, he fueled the safety discussion in alpine skiing and above all let the calls for safety nets and a possible helmet requirement get louder. As a result, the Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS) made it mandatory for the first time to wear a hard shell helmet at the Olympic downhill runs in 1960. Semmelink himself only wore a leather helmet in his fatal fall.

In memory of John Semmelink, the Canadian Snowsports Association presents the John Semmelink Memorial Award annually. The awards are given to representatives of the six Olympic and Paralympic sports, alpine skiing , cross-country skiing , ski jumping , Nordic combined , freestyle skiing and snowboarding . The winners are distinguished by their athletic abilities, demeanor and leadership skills within their teams as well as in the international representation of Canada. The trophy was originally made of granite from Mont-Tremblant , one of the namesake's favorite mountains, and awarded by the Canadian Amateur Ski Association. The first winner in 1961 was the reigning Olympic slalom champion and combined world champion Anne Heggtveit .

successes

World championships

More Achievements

  • Gold in the downhill and bronze in the giant slalom at the 1958 Commonwealth Winter Games

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Tragedy Mars Canadian Ski Triumph. In: Montreal Gazette , February 9, 1959, p. 17. Online , accessed May 12, 2020.
  2. ↑ a b John Semmelink First Ski Champ. In: Ottawa Citizen , January 9, 1958, p. 45. Online , accessed May 12, 2020.
  3. ↑ a b Schranz wins the toughest race of all time . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 8, 1959, p. 28 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
  4. ^ A b William Oscar Johnson: The Downhill: Majesty and Madness. In: Sports Illustrated , February 11, 1980 edition, p. 97. Online , accessed May 12, 2020.
  5. ^ Skier Buried in Germany. In: Montreal Gazette , February 10, 1959, p. 36. Online , accessed May 12, 2020.
  6. ↑ Seth Masia: Ski Helmets: How We Got Here. International Skiing History Association, accessed May 12, 2020 .
  7. ^ Bernhard Russi : Downhill - the supreme discipline of the alpine. Development, trends and theses. In: The mountain hare . 35th yearbook of the Swiss Academic Ski Club SAS , p. 32.
  8. ^ John Semmelink Memorial Award - Canada's Outstanding Competitor. (PDF) Canadian Snowsports Association, accessed May 12, 2020 .
  9. ^ Jack Koffman: Honor Anne as 1st Winner John Semmelink Memorial. In: Ottawa Citizen , November 21, 1961, p. 15. Online , accessed May 12, 2020.
personal data
SURNAME Semmelink, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Semmelink, Herman Jan (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ski racer
DATE OF BIRTH December 17, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Shanghai
DATE OF DEATH 7th February 1959
Place of death Garmisch-Partenkirchen